Various imidazole derivatives have been researched to apply them to medicines, and the present inventors found that the imidazole derivatives having an arylthio group at 5-position were efficient as an antiviral agent or an anti-HIV agent.
It is known, as a process for producing imidazole derivatives having a substituted thio group, that halogenated imidazole derivatives are reacted with mercaptane/NaH/DMF after formation of an imidazole ring (HETEROCYCLES, Vol 33, No 1, 21-26, (1992)). It is also known that imidazole derivatives are reacted with disulfide in the presence of a base after halogenation of --CH of the imidazole ring (J. Chem. Perkin Trans. I 1139-1145 (1989) and WO 96/10019). These methods are, however, inappropriate to the reaction on an industrial scale because they require halogenation of --CH of the imidazole ring and a strong base such as NaH or the like. As mentioned above, a process for producing imidazole derivatives having a substituted thio group, which is appropriate to convenient, economical, large-scaled production, has not been known heretofore.